Elsie's Winter Trip

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XIII.

  The next morning found the "Dolphin" lying quietly at anchor in theharbor in the inlet around which are the principal towns of theisland--Spanish Town, Port Royal and Kingston.

  All were well enough to enjoy little excursions about the island, incarriages or cars, and some weeks were spent by them in the mountains,all finding the air there very pleasant and the invalids evidentlygaining in health and strength.

  The change had been a rest to them all, but early in March they wereglad to return to the yacht and set sail for Trinidad, which they haddecided should be their next halting place. It was a pleasant morningand, as usual, old and young were gathered upon the deck, the twochildren near their grandmother.

  "Grandma," said Elsie, "I suppose you know all about Trinidad, wherepapa is taking us now, and if it won't trouble you to do so, I'd likevery much to have you tell Ned and me about it."

  "I shall not feel it any trouble to do so, little granddaughter," wasthe smiling rejoinder, "and if you and Ned grow weary of the subjectbefore I am through, you have only to say so and I will stop.

  "Trinidad is the most southerly of the West India Islands and belongsto Great Britain. It was first discovered by Columbus in 1498 and giventhe name of Trinidad by him, because three mountain summits were firstseen from the masthead. But it was not until 1532 that a permanentsettlement was made there. In 1595 its chief town, San Josede Oruha,was burned by Sir Walter Raleigh; but the island continued in Spain'spossession till 1797, when it fell into the hands of the British and itwas made theirs by treaty in 1802."

  "How large is it, grandma?" asked Ned.

  "About fifty miles long and from thirty to thirty-five wide. It isvery near to Venezuela, separated from it by the Gulf of Paria, andthe extreme points on the west coast are only the one thirteen andthe other nine miles from it. The channel to the north is called theDragon's Mouth; it is the deepest; the southern channel is shallow,owing to the deposits brought down by the Orinoco, and the gulf, too,is growing more shallow from the same cause."

  "Are there mountains, grandma?" asked Ned.

  "Yes; mountains not so high as those on some of the other Caribbeanislands; they extend along the northern coast from east to west; theyhave forests of stately trees and along their lower edges overhangingmangroves, dipping into the sea. There is a double-peaked mountaincalled Tamana, and from it one can look down upon the lovely andfertile valleys and plains of the other part of the island. There aresome tolerably large rivers and several good harbors."

  "Are there towns on it, grandma?" asked Ned.

  "Yes; the chief one, called Port of Spain, is one of the finest townsin the West Indies. It was first built of wood, and was burned down in1808, but has since been rebuilt of stone found in the neighborhood.The streets are long, wide, clean, well paved and shaded with trees.

  "San Fernando is the name of another town, and there are, besides, twoor three pretty villages. Near one of them, called La Brea, is a pitchlake composed of bituminous matter floating on fresh water."

  "I don't think I'd want to take a sail on it," said Elsie. "Trinidad isa warm place, isn't it, grandma?"

  "Yes; the climate is hot and moist; it is said to be the hottest of theWest India islands."

  "Then I'm glad it is winter now when we are going there."

  "Yes; I think winter is the best season for paying a visit there," saidher grandma.

  "I suppose we are going to one of the towns," said Ned. "Aren't we,papa?" as his father drew near.

  "Yes, to the capital, called Port of Spain. I was there some years ago.Shall I tell you about it?"

  "Oh, yes sir! please do," answered both children, and a number of thegrown people drew near to listen.

  "It is a rather large place, having some thirty or forty thousandinhabitants. Outside of the town is a large park, where there arevillas belonging to people in good circumstances. They are pleasant,comfortable-looking dwellings with porches and porticoes, gardens infront or lawns with many varieties of trees--bread-fruit, oranges,mangoes, pawpaws--making a pleasant shade and bearing delightfulfruits; and there is a great abundance of flowers."

  "All that sounds very pleasant, Captain," said Mr. Lilburn, "but I fearthere must be some unpleasant things to encounter."

  "Mosquitoes, for instance?" queried the Captain. "Yes, I rememberFroude's description of one that he says he killed and examined througha glass. Bewick, with the inspiration of genius, had drawn his exactlikeness as the devil--a long black stroke for a body, a nick for aneck, horns on the head, and a beak for a mouth, spindle arms, andlonger spindle legs, two pointed wings and a tail. He goes on to saythat he had been warned to be on the lookout for scorpions, centipedes,jiggers, and land crabs, which would bite him if he walked slipperlessover the floor in the dark. Of those he met none; but the mosquito ofTrinidad was enough by himself, being, for malice, mockery, and venomof tooth and trumpet, without a match in the world."

  "Dear me, papa, how can anybody live there?" exclaimed Grace.

  "Froude speaks of seeking safety in tobacco-smoke," replied her father,with a quizzical smile. "You might do that; or try the only other meansof safety mentioned by him--hiding behind the lace curtains with whichevery bed is provided."

  "But we can't stay in bed all the time, papa," exclaimed Elsie.

  "No, but most of the time when you are out of bed you keep off themosquitoes with a fan."

  "And if we find them quite unendurable we can sail away from Trinidad,"said Violet.

  "Perhaps we are coming to the island at a better time of the year thanFroude did, as regards the mosquito plague," remarked Grandma Elsie.

  "Ah, mother, I am afraid they are bad and troublesome all the yearround in these warm regions," said Harold.

  "But we can take refuge behind nets a great deal of the time while weare in the mosquito country, and hurry home when we tire of that,"remarked Violet.

  "Ah, that is a comfortable thought," said Mr. Lilburn. "And we arefortunate people in having such homes as ours to return to."

  "Yes, we can all say amen to that," said Chester, and Lucilla startedthe singing of "Home, Sweet Home," all the others joining in withfeeling.

  The next morning found the "Dolphin" lying quietly in the harbor of thePort of Spain in the great shallow lake known as the Gulf of Paria, andsoon after breakfast all went ashore to visit the city.

  They enjoyed walking about the wide, shaded streets, and park, gazingwith great interest upon the strange and beautiful trees, shrubs andflowers; there were bread-fruit trees, pawpaws, mangoes and oranges,and large and beautiful flowers of many colors. Some of our friends hadread Froude's account of the place and wanted to visit it.

  From there they went to the Botanical Gardens and were delighted withthe variety of trees and plants entirely new to them.

  Before entering the place, the young people were warned not to tasteany of the strange fruits, and Grandma Elsie and the Captain keptwatch over them lest the warning should be forgotten or unheeded;though Elsie was never known to disobey father or mother, and it wasa rare thing, indeed, for Ned to do so. They were much interestedin all they saw, the glen full of nutmeg trees among the rest; theywere from thirty to forty feet high, with leaves of brilliant green,something like the leaves of an orange, folded one over the other, andtheir lowest branches swept the ground. There were so many strange andbeautiful trees, plants and flowers to be seen and admired that ourfriends spent more than an hour in those gardens.

  Then they hired conveyances and drove about wherever they thought themost attractive scenes were to be found. They were interested in thecabins of the negroes spread along the road on either side and overhungwith trees--tamarinds, bread-fruit, orange, limes, citrons, plantainsand calabash trees; out of the last named they make their cups andwater-jugs.

  There were cocoa-bushes, too, loaded with purple or yellow pods;there were yams in the garden, cows in the paddocks also; so that itwas evident that abundance of good, nourishing, appetizing food wasprov
ided them with very little exertion on their part.

  Captain Raymond and his party spent some weeks in Trinidad and itsharbor--usually passing the night aboard the "Dolphin"--traveling aboutthe island in cars or carriages, visiting all the interesting spots,going up into the mountains and enjoying the view from thence of thelovely, fertile valleys and plains. Then they sailed around the islandand anchored again in the harbor of Port of Spain for the night and toconsider and decide upon their next movement.

  "Shall we go up the Orinoco?" asked the Captain, addressing thecompany, as all sat together on the deck.

  There was a moment of silence, each waiting for the others to speak,then Mr. Dinsmore said: "Give us your views on the subject, Captain. Isthere much to attract us there? To interest and instruct? I am reallyafraid that is a part of my geography in which I am rather rusty."

  "It is one of the great rivers of South America," said the Captain. "Itrises in one of the chief mountain chains of Guiana. It is a crookedstream--flowing west-south-west, then south-west, then north-west, thennorth-north-east and after that in an eastward direction to its mouth.The head of uninterrupted navigation is seven hundred and seventy-sevenmiles from its mouth. Above that point there are cataracts.

  "It has a great many branches, being joined, it is said, by fourhundred and thirty-six rivers and upward of two thousand streams; so itdrains an area of from two hundred and fifty thousand to six hundredand fifty thousand square miles, as variously estimated. It begins toform its delta one hundred and thirty miles from its mouth, by throwingoff a branch which flows northward into the Atlantic. It has severalnavigable mouths, and the main stream is divided by a line of islands,into two channels, each two miles wide. The river is four miles wide atBolivar, a town more than two hundred and fifty miles from the mouth ofthe river, which is there three hundred and ninety feet deep."

  "Why, it's a grand, big river," said Chester. "Much obliged for theinformation, Captain. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that it was solarge, and with its many tributaries drained so large a territory."

  "And do you wish to visit it--or a part of it?" queried the Captain."How is it with you, Cousins Annis and Ronald?"

  "I am willing--indeed, should prefer--to leave the decision to othermembers of our party," replied Mrs. Lilburn, and her husband expressedthe same wish to let others decide the question.

  "What do you say, Grandma Dinsmore?" asked Violet. "I think you look asif you would rather not go."

  "And that is how I feel--thinking of the mosquitoes," returned the oldlady, with a slight laugh.

  "They certainly are very objectionable," said the Captain. "I can'tsay that I am at all desirous to try them myself. And I doubt if theyare more scarce on the Amazon than on the Orinoco. One traveler theretells us, 'At night it was quite impossible to sleep for mosquitoes;they fell upon us by myriads, and without much piping came straight toour faces as thick as raindrops in a shower. The men crowded into thecabins and tried to expel them by smoke from burnt rags, but it was oflittle avail, though we were half suffocated by the operation.'"

  "That certainly does not sound very encouraging, my dear," said Violet.

  "The Amazon is a grand river, I know," said Harold, "but it would notpay to visit it under so great a drawback to one's comfort; and I amvery sure encountering such pests would be by no means beneficial toany one of my patients."

  "And this one of your patients would not be willing to encounter them,even if such were the prescription of her physician," remarked Grace,in a lively tone.

  "Nor would this older one," added Grandma Elsie, in playful tones.

  "Then we will consider the Orinoco as tabooed," said the Captain; "andI suppose we shall have to treat the Amazon in the same way, as it wasat a place upon its banks that one of the writers I just quoted had hismost unpleasant experience with the mosquitoes."

  "Well, my dear, if there is a difference of opinion and choice amongus--some preferring scenery even with mosquitoes, others no sceneryunless it could be had without mosquitoes--suppose we divide ourforces--one set land and the other remain on board and journey on upthe river."

  "Ah! and which set will you join, little wife?" he asked, with playfullook and tone.

  "Whichever one my husband belongs to," she answered. "Man and wife arenot to be separated."

  "Suppose we take a vote on the question and settle it at once," saidLucilla.

  "A good plan, I think," said Harold.

  "Yes," assented the Captain. "Cousins Annis and Ronald, please give usyour wishes in regard to rivers and mosquitoes."

  "I admire the rivers, but not the mosquitoes, and would rather dowithout both than have both," laughed Annis, and her husband added,"And my sentiments on the subject coincide exactly with those of mywife."

  Then the question went round the circle, and it appeared that everyone thought a sight of the great rivers and the scenery on their bankswould be too dearly purchased by venturing in among the clouds ofblood-thirsty mosquitoes.

  "I'm glad," exclaimed Ned; "for I'm not a bit fond of mosquitoes;especially not of having them take their meals off me. But I'd liketo see those big rivers. Papa, won't you tell us something about theAmazon?"

  "Yes," said the Captain; "it has two other names--Maranon andOrellana. It is a very large river and has a big mouth--one hundred andfifty miles wide, and the tide enters there and goes up the stream fivehundred miles.

  "From the wide mouth of the Amazon, where it empties into the ocean,its water can be distinguished from the other--that of the ocean--forfifty leagues. The Amazon is so large and has so many tributaries thatit drains two million, five hundred square miles of country. The Amazonis the king of rivers. It rises in the western range of the Andes, andis little better than a mountain torrent till it has burst throughthe gorges of the eastern range of the chain, where it is overhung bypeaks that tower thousands of feet above its bed. But within threehundred miles from the Pacific is a branch, Huallagais, large enoughand deep enough for steamers, and a few miles farther down the Amazonis navigable for vessels drawing five feet; and it grows deeper anddeeper and more and more available for large vessels as it rolls ontoward the ocean. The outlet of this mighty river is a feeder of theGulf Stream. It is only since 1867 that the navigation of the Amazonhas been open, but now regular lines of steamers ply between its mouthand Yurimaguas on the Huallaga."

  "Are there not many and important exports sent down the Amazon?" askedMr. Dinsmore.

  "There are, indeed," replied the Captain, "and the fauna of the watershave proved wonderful. Agassiz found there, in five months, thirteenhundred species of fish, nearly a thousand of them new, and abouttwenty new genera. The Vacca marina, the largest fish inhabiting freshwaters, and the Acara, which carries its young in its mouth, when thereis danger, are the denizens of the Amazon."

  "Oh," exclaimed Elsie, "I'd like to see that fish with its babies inits mouth."

  "And I should be very sorry to have to carry my children in thatway--even if the relative sizes of my mouth and children made itpossible," said her mother.

  "Brazil's a big country, isn't it, papa?" asked Ned.

  "Yes," said his father; "about as large as the United States would bewithout Alaska."

  "Did Columbus discover it, and the Spaniards settle it, papa?" he asked.

  "In the year 1500 a companion of Columbus landed at Cape Augustine,near Pernambuco, and from there sailed along the coast as far as theOrinoco," replied the Captain. "In the same year another Portuguesecommander, driven to the Brazilian coast by adverse winds, landed, andtaking possession in the name of his monarch named the country Terra daVera Crux. The first permanent settlement was made by the Portuguesein 1531 on the island of St. Vincent. Many settlements were made andabandoned, because of the hostility of the natives and the lack ofmeans, and a Huguenot colony, established on the bay of Rio de Janeiro,in 1555, was broken up by the Portuguese in 1567 when they founded thepresent capital, Rio de Janeiro.

  "But it is hardly worth while to rehearse al
l the history of thevarious attempts to take possession of Brazil--attempts made by Dutch,Portuguese and Spanish. French invasion of Portugal, in 1807, causedthe royal family to flee to Brazil, and it became the royal seat ofgovernment until 1821, when Dom John VI. went back to Portugal, leavinghis eldest son, Dom Pedro, as Prince Regent.

  "The independence of Brazil was proclaimed September 7, 1822; and onOctober 12th, he was crowned emperor as Dom Pedro I. He was arbitrary,and that made him so unpopular that he found it best to abdicate, whichhe did in 1831 in favor of his son, then only a child. That boy wascrowned in 1841, at the age of fifteen, as Dom Pedro II."

  "Gold is to be found in Brazil, is it not, papa?" asked Grace.

  "Yes," he said, "that country is rich in minerals and preciousstones. Gold, always accompanied with silver, is found in many of theprovinces, and in Minas-Geraes is especially abundant, and in that andtwo other of the provinces, diamonds are found; and the opal, amethyst,emerald, ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, topaz and other precious stonesare more or less common."

  "Petroleum also is obtained in one or two of the provinces, and thereare valuable phosphate deposits on some of the islands," remarked Mr.Dinsmore, as the Captain paused, as if he had finished what he had tosay in reply to Grace's question.

  "Papa," asked Ned, "are there lions and tigers and monkeys in thewoods?"

  "There are dangerous wild beasts--the jaguar being the most commonand formidable. And there are other wild, some of them dangerous,beasts--the tiger cat, red wolf, tapir, wild hog, Brazilian dog,or wild fox, capybara or water hog, paca, three species of deer,armadillos, sloths, ant-eaters, oppossums, coatis, water-rats, ottersand porcupines. Squirrels, hares and rabbits are plentiful. Thereare many species of monkeys, too, and several kinds of bats--vampiresamong them. On the southern plains, large herds of wild horses are tobe found. Indeed, Brazil can boast a long list of animals. One writersays that he found five hundred species of birds in the Amazon valleyalone, about thirty distinct species of parrots and twenty varietiesof humming-birds. The largest birds are the ouira, a large eagle; therhea, or American ostrich; and the cariama. Along the coasts or in theforest are to be found frigate birds, snowy herons, toucans, ducks,wild peacocks, turkeys, geese and pigeons. Among the smaller birds arethe oriole, whippoorwill and the uraponga, or bell bird."

  "Those would be pleasant enough to meet," said Violet, "but there areplenty of most unpleasant creatures--snakes, for instance."

  "Yes," assented the Captain; "there are many serpents; the mostvenomous are the jararaca and the rattlesnake. The boa-constrictor andanaconda grow very large, and there are at least three species of cobranoted as dangerous. There are many alligators, turtles and lizards. Therivers, lakes and coast-waters literally swarm with fish. Agassiz foundnearly two thousand species, many of them such as are highly esteemedfor food."

  "And they have big mosquitoes, too, you have told us, papa," saidElsie. "Many other bugs, too, I suppose?"

  "Yes; big beetles, scorpions and spiders, many kinds of bees,sand-flies and musical crickets, destructive ants, the cochineal insectand the pium, a tiny insect whose bite is poisonous and sometimesdangerous."

  "Please tell us about the woods, papa," said Ned.

  "Yes; the forests of the Amazon valley are said to be the largest inthe world, having fully four hundred species of trees. In marshy placesand along streams reeds, grasses and water plants grow in tangledmasses, and in the forests the trees crowd each other and are drapedwith parasitic vines. Along the coasts mangroves, mangoes, cocoas,dwarf palms, and the Brazil-wood are noticeable. In one of the southernprovinces more than forty different kinds of trees are valuable fortimber. On the Amazon and its branches there are an almost innumerablevariety of valuable trees; among them the itauba or stonewood, so namedfor its durability; the cassia, the cinnamon-tree, the banana, thelime, the myrtle, the guava, the jacaranda or rosewood, the Brazilianbread-fruit, whose large seeds are used for food, and many others toonumerous to mention; among them the large and lofty cotton-tree, thetall white-trunked seringa or rubber-tree, which furnishes the gum ofcommerce, and the three or four hundred species of palms. One of thoseis called the carnaubu palm; it is probably the most valuable, forevery part of it is useful, from the wax of its leaves to its ediblepith. Another is the piassaba palm, whose bark is clothed with a loosefiber used for coarse textile fabrics and for brooms."

  "Why, papa, that's a very useful tree," was little Elsie's commentupon that bit of information. "Are there fruits and flowers in thoseforests, papa?" she asked.

  "Yes; those I have already mentioned, with figs, custard-apples andoranges. Some European fruits--olives, grapes and water-melons of fineflavor are cultivated in Brazil."

  "If it wasn't for the fierce wild animals and snakes, it would be anice country to live in, I think," she said; "but taking everythinginto consideration I very much prefer our own country."

  "Ah, is that so? Who shall say that you won't change your mind after afew weeks spent in Brazil?" returned her father, with an amused look.

  "You wouldn't want me to, I know, papa," she returned, with a pleasantlittle laugh, "for I am very sure you want your children to love theirown country better than any other in the world."

  "Yes, my child, I do," he said. Then turning to his older passengersand addressing them in general, "I think," he said, "if it is agreeableto you all, we will make a little stop at Para, the maritime emporiumof the Amazon. I presume you would all like to see that city?"

  All seemed pleased with the idea, and it was presently settled thatthat should be their next stopping-place. They all enjoyed their lifeupon the yacht, but an occasional halt and visit to the shore made anagreeable variety.